Because there have been no adequate chemical methods for converting methane gas into liquids that can be transported efficienty to commercial markets, very large quantities of methane gas are wasted every day, by flaring, reinjection, or other means, at fields that produce crude oil. In addition, numerous gas fields are simply shut in, at numerous locations around the world.
Skilled chemists have tried for at least 100 years to develop methods for converting methane gas into various types of liquids. While various efforts in the prior art could produce relatively small quantities and low yields of methanol or other liquids, none of those efforts ever created yields that were sufficient to support commercial use at oil-producing sites. Such efforts prior to 1990 are described in reviews such as Gesser et al 1985 and Olah 1987 (full citations to all articles and books are provided below), and efforts after 1990 are described in articles such as Periana et al 1993, 1998, and 2002, Basickes et al 1996, Lobree et al 2001, and Mukhopadhyay 2002 and 2003.
As a result, oil and chemical companies are investing (as of early 2004) huge amounts of money to design and build facilities that will use either “liquified natural gas” (LNG), or a processing system called “Fischer-Tropsch”. However, both of those systems are very inefficient and wasteful.
LNG processing burns about 40% of a methane stream, to refrigerate the remainder to somewhere between −260 and −330° F., causing it to liquefy so it can be loaded into specialized ocean-going tankers. After a tanker reaches its destination, another large portion of the methane must be burned, to warm the methane back up to temperatures that allow it to be handled by normal pipes and pumps. Therefore, LNG wastes roughly half of a methane stream. Nevertheless, as of early 2004, oil companies had committed an estimated $30 billion to build LNG facilities.
Similarly, Fischer-Tropsch processing burns about 30% of a methane stream to convert the remainder into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, called “synthetic gas” or “syngas”. The syngas is then converted (using expensive catalysts) into heavy oils and paraffins, which then must be cracked and/or distilled to convert them into gasoline and other products. The syngas conversion, the catalyst costs, and the fact that the process makes thick and heavy oils and waxes that require still more processing, all create major inefficiencies, but as of early 2004, companies have committed to building Fischer-Tropsch facilities costing tens of billions of dollars.
The waste and inefficiencies of LNG and Fischer-Tropsch systems, which are receiving billions of dollars in investments, prove the assertion that any methane-to-methanol systems previously proposed, based on small-scale laboratory work, have not been regarded as commercially practical, by any major companies. In addition, it should be noted that most processing systems proposed to date generate large quantities of acidic and hazardous byproducts and toxic wastes. Even if they can be recycled, those byproducts and wastes poses major obstacles to efficient and economic use.
Additional background information is provided in Patent Cooperation Treaty application number WO 2004/041399, arising from application PCT/US03/035396, filed in November 2003 by the same Applicant and Inventor herein. The contents of that published application are incorporated herein by reference.